We think cats hate swimming – and while many do – you might be surprised to hear that many wild cats swim regularly, and (whisper it) they don’t actually hate it. From jungle rivers to African wetlands, several wild cat species are not only capable swimmers, they actually enjoy it. Whether it’s hunting, cooling off or just exploring their habitat, these felines […]
Tag: leopards
In Thailand, burned sugarcane plantations become traps for leopard cat cubs
Nuntita Ruksachat, head veterinarian at the Khon Kaen wildlife rescue center in northeastern Thailand, holds up a feline cub no larger than her hand. Part of a litter rescued just days ago, the cub’s fur is patchy, revealing blistered skin underneath. Its whiskers, clearly singed, are short and stubby. “They were rescued from a burned […]
Overtourism threatens Sri Lanka’s leopards
Yala National Park, Sri Lanka‘s most famous wildlife destination, is facing a conservation crisis as overcrowding and speeding safari jeeps increasingly threaten its wildlife, particularly its famed leopards, reports Mongabay contributor Kamanthi Wickramasinghe. Block I of the park, which boasts of one of the world’s highest leopard densities at one animal per square kilometer (2.6 per square mile), attracted […]
‘The leopard was crouched 3m away, its golden eyes locked on mine. What happened next is still a blur’
We took the bridge over the River Khwai. A phalanx of firewood rattled in the back of the beat-up Land Rover. Sardined beside it, my siblings nattered and quibbled. It was 2012 and we were a full-house family – two adults, three children – eight weeks and two breakdowns into a self-drive safari sabbatical. Travelling […]
War on Iran disrupts efforts to save the Asiatic cheetah, world’s rarest big cat
Before the war began in February 2026, there was some rare good news for Iran‘s imperiled Asiatic cheetahs. Rangers spotted and filmed a female in the North Khorasan province accompanied by five cubs — a first. No more than four had ever been seen before, and every individual counts. The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) is the world’s most […]
A South African reserve shows how carbon can catalyze rewilding conservation
TSWALU KALAHARI RESERVE, South Africa — From high on a promontory in the Korannaberg Mountains, a mountain zebra (Equus zebra hartmannae) peers down to the west across the green-dappled plain below, the sun rising behind. In the distance, wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) hunt in the veld, verdant after early rains. And nearby, white rhinos (Ceratotherium […]
The mind-controlling zombie that makes our closest cousins seek out their own killers… and it could affect humans too
In 2016 scientists found a parasite is able to manipulate the behaviour of its chimpanzee hosts, making them morbidly attracted to the odour of their only natural predator. Toxoplasma gondii is a tiny single-celled cat parasite that also infects a range of other mammals and birds as intermediate hosts, forming cysts in their brains and other […]
Watch agonising BBC footage of deadly crocodiles attacking animals oblivious to the danger not once, but twice… You will be yelling at the screen
Watch incredible BBC footage of wildebeests at the water’s edge going back into crocodile-infested waters, narrated by David Attenborough The wildebeest migration of the Serengeti-Masai Mara ecosystem is an incredible natural event, where over 1.4 million wildebeest, alongside zebra and antelope, travel hundreds of miles together, stopping when they can to drink along the way. It’s at […]